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Tuesday, 23 April 2013

Whatever the weather a Wetherspoon pie makes you better

So with it
being St George’s Day and all, I thought I’d try out a great British classic while
out for dinner. Of course, it will come as no surprise to our loyal fans that I
went for the Steak Pie! I’m sure St George would have been proud. After all,
you can’t slay dragons on a pie-empty stomach!

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However, it
has to be said that there was some controversy surrounding my choice. Because,
for those who have frequented a Wetherspoon pub in the past few weeks, they
will find – like I did tonight – that there is not actually pie on the menu at
the moment! I know! That’s what I just said – no pie on the menu!

Rather
puzzled and confused, Pierateer RAS went up to the bar to confirm he wasn’t
just losing his marbles and missing the blindingly obvious. But no, it was
confirmed by the bar staff that pie had definitely been removed from the menu.
Fortunately though, John at the bar was willing to go and check with the
kitchen, in case there was a pie from the previous menu still available, and to
the relief of his pie loving consumer, a Steak pie was found! St George could
finally slay his pie...

Wetherspoon Steak Pie

So after the
controversy of ordering a pie, how did it rate?

The pie
itself was well presented. A solid, decent sized square pie, which was fully
encased and golden brown. It certainly was looking promising for a snip at
£4.99. Upon digging in, the top crust lid was deliciously light and flaky and
the gravy was nice, however it didn’t take too long for the pie reviewer to
come to some rather thick, dry outer pastry around the sides. While possible to
cut through witha standard knife and an
accompanying gravy boat to aid in softening the pastry shell, there was no
doubt that this certainly let the side down (pun intended). It was quite a
disappointment, as the top pastry was absolutely crisp and delicious. The meat
itself was relatively decent, but not as tender as some of the farm shop/farmers
market varieties out there which top our rankings table. A bit of gristle was unfortunately
found to, which never goes down well.

Overall,
while quite a decent capacity, the thick, dry pastry sides meant that this pie
didn’t quite weather the storm of pie rating. I would probably need a spoon
(and perhaps a steak knife) to get through all the pastry provided to. My
recommendations would be that a bit of lighter pastry round the edges and
slightly higher quality meat would certainly boost this pie’s appeal. However,
the old adage goes that you get what you paid for, and on a budget of £5 for a
pie meal in a pub, I don’t think you can find many that would compete on value.
For pie on a budget, I certainly wouldn’t rule out going back to a Wetherspoon
pub... oh, once they add it back onto the menu, that is!!!